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  • Cory Edmund Endrulat

Celebrating “Independence” – Except, We're Not



The temporary or material fixations of man will last as long as his ignorance, his attachments and expectations, and ultimately, his self enslavement. To comprehend such words as these which may seem profound or extreme to some individuals, may I use the example of what most people can relate to. And as we are all able to relate to one another given the same experiences, this one relation is a forced experience, one that thrives upon it so much so that it is a part of life and thereby ignored as what could be any problematic. May I ask you merely one question: how can humanity celebrate if they and their neighbors are being consistently coerced against their consent or knowing, where anything can be taken from them at any time and few if anybody will dare to question why, nonetheless be willing to standup for them if they aren't actively cheering it on or seeing it as necessary despite those coerced merely in existence, living life, doing no harm.


For to condone violence would be just as bad as to create it, as violence is still being done. Similarly, if the terms change, or if a majority of people claim it's okay, or if people even claim it is not, does that change the nature of the action? An action which has always existed, why would it be misunderstood. And if this be the question we must first consider the possibility as true in order to postulate, why did slaves of the long past sing songs whilst they were bound to their slavery, creating a culture for themselves? You may say it's their drive or wanting of a culture of their own amongst themselves given their natural born talents, or that it is their way of expressing freedom. Like an undying itch, a yearning for purpose, a way of coping not so much as a way of celebrating. Almost certainly, we all in this life have an expression, for if we did not express, we'd not be free nor living. Therefore in reaching and in practicing, expression and freedom goes hand in hand. An individual can express in ways they never would've expressed before, given the opportunity to do so, for instance, a singer that impresses many folks or a hidden talent. Like the inventor who just had certain life experiences lead them to certain conclusions, some necessary prerequisite knowledge in order to reach other knowledge, it is almost as if we cannot deny the process of birth and growth, as so essential for the future; that every step we take makes a difference. And that may even then mean, that in those moments where we cannot take certain steps, we step where we can until we can do more. Like a baby learning how to walk, any individual learning a new sport or martial art, a language or anything else in this world. And as you express an understanding of all this, you may see the value of knowledge, the connectedness of the universe, the forever thoughts and patterns that could be made on any matter given perspective. If you did not see a simple connection as such or you were held back from merely learning how to walk, talk or live life, contemplate, how would you live? And if it be you were blind, how does nature compensate? If anything in nature dies, where does it go, where is the compensation? If a nation dies, where does it go, where is the compensation?


You cannot expect the philosopher or inventor to be the average individual, especially if their role among other roles, is to primarily think outside the box in order to move the current box. You would then expect the average individual, to at times, underestimate their findings, or even their potential from their findings; but they will be dedicated. When slaves sang their songs, they found hope, even when suppressed, they enjoyed their celebration as they could. And when the abolitionists came along, they were dedicated to the cause of freeing these slaves, doing what they could to help those who could not do as much as them. This was giving power, shelter, humanity to those who deserved it. Was this a programming the abolitionists were merely a part of? Was it a temporary phenomena that the abolitionists were chasing? No, for they went against any norm, and they saw a world beyond the current, which made it stronger than merely some ideology or some culture. There may have been literature or abolitionists materials, but was there any worship of these, or were the ideas upheld itself among the concept of a free peoples? A culture beyond all cultures, a cause beyond all causes. Furthermore, were the abolitionists to celebrate the end of slavery despite the unnecessary and continual slavery they still spoke of? (Not to mention how despite "American independence" there was still chattel slavery)


All of what has been mentioned may seem like a lot to a world which would rather keep doing what it has been given, but from the notion of material fixation or understanding what isn't timeless, or the notion of how compensation and reactions occur in nature for the yearning of a destiny or evolution; you should be able to now contemplate further upon this thing I call a forced experience. And this is the celebration of a nation, a government state. You may love your land, the people within such land, the experiences you have or ideas you come across, but can you love those material things, those idols, those worshiped figures from long ago you barely knew, the history you weren't a part of? It may become easier to do so when it is thrown in your face at a young age before you can even think for yourself and among everything you do, be it good or bad experiences, there for you at all times, like a god watching over you. And as the state does what the people request of it, to change any part of their material reality, so the people have created their own more localized god image. Whilst God or nature is celebrated among all of time, the state is celebrated as long as the current one is, and its pathetically short in comparison. In fact, those who pride in their symbols or idols, may lack faith in thyself or in seeing current evolution necessary for the future, they celebrate a nation just like every tyrannical nation has celebrated their own, and tyranny was and ever will be every nation. It's by the nature of the beast, what people accept and even know to be a “necessary evil,” that people create their own self-enslavement. They force themselves and everyone around them into a relationship called government. And some sing song and create culture around freedom, but once it's wrapped into another state, the culture by definition becomes controlling of others until another must rise up and do the same. The apparatus of control can never be an apparatus for freedom. Freedom breeds freedom, song breeds song. However, a drop of poison can ruin the bunch, one organ can fail the whole body, lies mixed with truth makes the lies more dangerous. And freedom has only one requirement, self-control, but not the other way around.


Control destroys freedom, and as great abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison states: “while a slave remains in his fetters, the land must have no rest.” We live in the same reality as one another, and condoning the control of another opens the possibility up to ourselves. An inevitable cycle it seems to have government, but again there remains certain cultures and ideas that remain through it all. Thousands of years of slavery could not stop the end of slavery, if it was to be ended; excuses and ignorance only prolongs and makes more painstaking the process. Take for instance the very concept of freedom minus the flags or idols, it has always been here. Or the very fact we are all human beings despite the divisive titles or positions we arbitrarily create on our own materialistic, non universal and temporal whims. And it's not like it can be otherwise, for if it were, then we'd accept and speak of freedom directly but not through one process of some individuals whim, like the structure of a democracy or republic or any other form of statism, for which already controls it. To see humans more as humans, one slavery ending to the next, one technology awaiting the next, the resources are always there and humans only have yet to use them. Take for instance the churches of the world, they have always existed in sharing a relatively similar message throughout history, and while the state may operate similarly due to facts mentioned before, religion can operate without violence or the condoning of theft. People can associate freely without them, unless they claim an authority over their lives. The same would be said for any organization or business. You can be asked for labor but you aren't forced to do labor. You may always have some form of labor to do, but you decide your own fate, you are not bound to some authority. Whereas, the state never can give you your own authority, unless it ceases to be a state. In other words, you cannot truly ever celebrate something worth celebrating unless you accept the reality beyond illusion, or the timeless creations beyond man made systems. Like yelling at a brick wall to move, more accurately, life or truth to bend to you instead of you to it, it just won't move or do so for you.


We can cope by celebrating in our tyranny, but unless we recognize it as tyranny and accept the help of those trying to free us from it, our coping will become our reality, and your faith will be put into man, your religion will become man, your freedom will never be freedom but only control. You will not know how to escape it other than what is given to you, because that's how you ended up controlled in the first place, accepting the given; as if it's the given nature, no it is the given state or government, one you didn't create nor actually consent to, it must be common to say "you have no choice" and therefore like Stockholm Syndrome, you learn to love your abuser and cannot fathom a world without it. I urge you to celebrate ideas concerning all of humanity and innovation, ideas behind people and events, otherwise the world moves in stagnation and therefore, humans get swept up by the wind or they learn to identify so well with their own prison they never see the true potential that awaits them outside of it. As an abolitionist, it is my duty to help bring your song, your expression to the world for all, of all, where it belongs.

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